By The Associated Press
Voters' views of Tuesday's elections, according to a preliminary exit poll conducted in Iowa for The Associated Press:
ECONOMY IS TOP CONCERN
More than half of Iowa voters said the economy is the top issue facing the country. The federal budget deficit was the top issue for about one-fifth of voters, the second-biggest group. Rising prices were the biggest economic issue for almost half of voters. About a quarter saw unemployment as the top issue, and about one in five saw taxes as the top issue.
ARE THINGS GETTING BETTER?
By a 2 to 1 ratio, Iowa voters said the condition of the nation's economy is "not so good" or "poor." They were about evenly divided between whether the economy is getting better, getting worse, or staying the same.
ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
A big majority of Iowa voters said the government is doing too many things that are better left to businesses and individuals.
UNDECIDED? NOT HERE
Some two-thirds of Iowa voters say they decided who to vote for before September.
The survey of 2,552 Iowa voters was conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research. This includes preliminary results from interviews conducted as voters left a random sample of 45 precincts statewide Tuesday, as well as 502 who voted early or absentee and were interviewed by landline or cellular telephone from Oct. 26 through Nov. 3. Results for the full sample were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3%age points; it is higher for subgroups.
Online: http://surveys.ap.org/exitpolls
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
